Esther: Let’s Party – Bring Your Friends
Sycamore Creek Church
September 13/14, 2015
Tom Arthur
Let’s party friends!
When you invite Ferris Bueller to the party, you know it’s going to be good! Today we continue in our three-week series on the book of Esther called Let’s Party. I’m challenging you to read the book of Esther over these three weeks. How’s that going? So why is a series on the book of Esther called Let’s Party? Good question. Let’s review the key verse in the book of Esther:
He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy.
~Esther 9:22 NLT
Esther exists as a book in the Bible to explain why the Jews celebrate Purim. And Purim is like the Jewish version of Mardi Gras. In fact, Esther is the magna carta of partying, the declaration of partying, and the bill of rights of partying. It is as the Beastie Boys say, why “You gotta fight…for your right…to party!”
So if we’re talking about a party, then a problem immediately arises. Who do you invite to the party? Who do you not invite to the party? What reactions will you get? Who will react to who? Who will react to you? What reactions did you not anticipate?
I remember feeling this problem acutely as we were planning the guest list for our wedding. I’ve got a blended family and I was imagining my family not blending so well. Add to this stress the fact that I worked at a church, Sarah worked at a church, and Sarah’s dad worked at two churches. Just in case your math ain’t so good, that’s four churches we were involved with. Who do you invite? Who do you not invite? Yikes! We ended up making open invitations to all four churches and as a result we had four-hundred people attend our wedding. Four hundred people! It was all enough to make me envious of people who elope and grab a witness off the street. Well, thankfully, my family blended well, and the other four hundred people ended up being a blessing to us. The wedding was a blast. Thank you God!
So here’s the whole point of today’s message: Who you invite determines the quality of the party.
Likewise, the quality of your life depends on who you invite to your life party. What friends do you invite to the party of your life? What friends do you not invite? What friends do you disinvite?
Let’s face it, there are people you can’t just disinvite, a spouse for example. And it’s actually not good to only hang out with “good” people. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, but are you getting lost yourself? Are you seeking the lost or are you getting lost? This question is a matter of influence. We’re called to influence those around us. Are you influencing those around you or are you being influenced?
Speaking of inviting people to the party, I want to invite you to take the Cell Phone Challenge. I challenge you to it. Here’s the deal: Bring your cell phone to our S Penn Venue on Wednesday, September 30th between 7-8:30PM and we’re going to call everyone on our rolls to make sure they know about and are invited to the Open House Party the following Sunday, October 4th where we’re celebrating our Grand Opening of the newly remodeled Connection Café. Are you ready to take the challenge?
Here’s one more invitation challenge. Between now and October 4th, pick three people that you will invest & invite. When we say “invest & invite” we mean that you will take some time between now and October 4th to invest in these three people. Have a cup of a coffee with them. Get together for a meal. Go on a walk. Drop them a message on Facebook to see how they’re doing. Call them and check in. Then pray that God would open the door for you to invite them to our Open House Party. Let God do the heavy lifting. It’s as simple as that. When you see God open the door, invite them to the party.
So I’ve put before you two challenges:
- The Cell Phone Challenge
- The Invest & Invite Challenge
Will you step up to the challenge?!
So we’re talking about who you invite to the party, the SCC party, but also the party of your life, and we’re also studying the book of Esther. So I want to identify two kinds of “friends” to disinvite to the party of your life and two kinds of friends to invite as we see all four kinds of friends in the book of Esther. Let’s dive in.
Two Kinds of “Friends” to DISINIVITE
Over-reactors – The King’s Men
The King in the story of Esther is throwing a drinking party. He wants the queen, Vashti, to show up naked only wearing her crown so that “the nobles and all the other men [could] gaze on her beauty” (1:11). In other words, he wants to turn his wife, the queen, into a stripper for his party. Vashti refuses snubbing the king publicly.
Have you ever been challenged or humiliated publically? Are you prone to over react? The King and his friends are. The King consults his drinking buddies about what to do and here’s what happens:
The king immediately consulted with his wise advisers, who knew all the Persian laws and customs, for he always asked their advice…Memucan answered the king and his nobles, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also every noble and citizen throughout your empire. Women everywhere will begin to despise their husbands when they learn that Queen Vashti has refused to appear before the king. Before this day is out, the wives of all the king’s nobles throughout Persia and Media will hear what the queen did and will start treating their husbands the same way. There will be no end to their contempt and anger.”
~Esther 1:13, 16-18 NLT
Notice all the ways the king’s drinking buddies explode the situation and over-catastrophize it. They say by the end of today (immediately) this bad thing is going to happen to everyone everywhere and will have no end. Come on! Is it really that bad? No way! They’re all over reacting.
Over-reactors tend to amp up the emotions. Especially the bad ones. If it’s bad it’s really bad. If it will take some time, it will be forever. If it happens to one person it will happen to everyone. They make the mistake of over-generalizing the situation. “You always…You never…” Do you have friends who over react to the negative things in your life? Are you an over-reactor? Maybe it’s time to disinvite the over-reactors from the party.
Two Kinds of “Friends” to DISINIVITE
Power-reactors – Haman’s Wife: Zeresh
Power-reactors look for their opportunity to gain power. They jump on the band wagon when things are going well, and tell you what you want to hear so they can get a free ride. But when things turn sour, they’re outa here. Haman’s wife is like that. Haman is the King’s right-hand man who gains power and uses it to attempt a genocide of the Jews after Esther’s uncle, Mordecai refuses to bow to him.
So Haman’s wife, Zeresh, and all his friends suggested, “Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it. When this is done, you can go on your merry way to the banquet with the king.” This pleased Haman, and he ordered the pole set up.
~Esther 5:14 NLT
Zeresh and Haman’s friends see Haman’s stock going up, so they are bold to tell him how to keep getting more power so they can join the gravy train. But when a twist in the plot sends Haman’s stock spiraling downward they quickly change who they back:
When Haman told his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends what had happened, his wise advisers and his wife said, “Since Mordecai—this man who has humiliated you—is of Jewish birth, you will never succeed in your plans against him. It will be fatal to continue opposing him.”
~Esther 6:13 NLT
From cheering him on to tearing him down, that’s what a power-reactor does. Are you a power-reactor? Do you have power-reactor “friends” around you? Maybe it’s time to disinvite some power-reactors from your party.
So how do you protect against the over-reactors and power-reactors? You invite two other kinds of friends around you: truth-reactors and spiritual-reactors. Let’s look at both.
Two Kinds of Friends to INVITE
Truth Reactors – The Eunuch & Mordecai
Esther, the new queen after Vashti, gets to be queen by knowing who she can trust. She is entered into a beauty pageant and wins the crown. She wins in part because she pays attention to what she is told by the people who know how the system works.
When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king, she accepted the advice of Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem. She asked for nothing except what he suggested, and she was admired by everyone who saw her.
~Esther 2:15 NLT
Hegai gives Esther “wordly” advice about how the world works. This isn’t bad stuff to know. He’s a kind of mentor to her. He knows the levers of the king’s court and he tells Esther which levers to pull. He gives her practical wisdom about life. Do you have some friends around you who are mentoring you on the basics of life: finances, career choices, household management, parenting, studying, and the like? We all need these kind of truth-reactors around us.
Recently we learned that the Capital City River Run marathon was going to be going right by our S Penn Venue just down the street where the River Trail crosses Mt Hope on Sunday, September 20th. We’ll be right at mile 22 out of 26 miles. I’ve never run a marathon so I don’t know what your state of mind is at mile 22, but those who have run a marathon say that things are pretty bleak. You’re wondering why you ever decided to do this in the first place. So we’ve decided to be some truth-reactor friends for those who are running this marathon. After worship that day, a team of us will walk down the street to cheer on those who are hitting mile twenty-two of their grueling ordeal…I mean fun run. We’ll give them our best cheering to compel them on. I’m told by those who have run marathons that this kind of cheering is exactly what’s needed. It’s practical wisdom shared with us from truth-reactors. And we’re going to put it to good use next week. Will you stick around and join us to cheer on the runners?
So Hegai was someone who gave Esther worldly wisdom but she also has people in her life who give her Godly wisdom and truth, specifically her uncle, Mordecai. When Mordecai learns that Haman has plotted a genocide, he realizes that the Jews’ best chance just might be Esther, the queen who no one knows is Jewish. Here’s what happens:
Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
~Esther 4:13-14 NLT
Mordecai tells Esther what she needs to hear. Do you have a friend or two or three who are willing to tell you the hard truth? Do you have some friends who are willing to look for God’s truth in your life? Are you the kind of person who does that for others? Let me give you a little tip. Our culture right now is so averse to offending anyone that when our friends around us see what’s happening in our life better than we see it ourselves, they’re afraid to tell us for fear of offending us. So what we need to do with our friends is give them permission to tell us. Ask for the truth. Ask for it! This does two things: it gives your friends permission to say what needs to be said, and it puts you in the frame of mind to receive it well. Are you a truth-reactor? Do you have truth-reactors around you?
Two Kinds of Friends to INVITE
Spiritual Reactors – The Jews & Maids
The second kind of friend we all need to invite to our life party is the spiritual-reactor. Someone who comes alongside of you in a time of trouble and is God’s means of grace in your life. Esther has two groups of friends like this. After hearing Mordecai’s truth-telling, she responds in this way:
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
~Esther 4:15-17
There are two groups of friends around Esther: all the Jews of Susa and her maids. You can think of these groups of friends as her spiritual community or faith community, and her small group. Both come alongside her in a time of trouble and practice spiritual practices together like prayer and fasting. A spiritual-reactor’s first reaction is to turn to God in prayer. One time when I was swinging on a porch swing the chain snapped as I swung out over the edge to the porch. As I felt myself flying through the air I was only aware of one thing, my friend Marie who was loudly praying for me. I don’t know how she thought to pray so quickly, but she did. She was a spiritual-reactor. What happened next is all a blur to me but what I pieced together from those who saw the incident was that I tucked and rotated in mid-air and missed a porch post to one side and a tree-stump to the other side and gracefully rolled out into the gravel driveway before hopping up on my feet with no injuries. Whoa! Thank you Marie for praying me through that gymnastic stunt. Thank you God for giving me a spiritual-reactor friend in that moment!
Are you a spiritual-reactor? Do you have spiritual-reactors around you? Just in case I haven’t given you enough challenges today here’s another one: find a small group of spiritual-reactors this month in GroupLINK. This fall we’re doing a church-wide campaign called What On Earth Am I Here For? All the small groups are studying this same book. We’ll have coordinated teaching each Sunday morning along with your small group material. Your spiritual faith community and your small group will be aligned to be spiritual reactors in your life. Wow! On top of all this, you’ll get a FREE book if you sign up for a small group. Yes, a FREE book. Do you have spiritual-reactor friends in your life? If not, find some in a small group.
One of the truth-reactors and spiritual-reactors from afar in my life is John Wesley, the 18th century founder of Methodism. I’ve been reading one of his sermons each morning before my kids wake up. I read this one last week and I’d like to share it with you to close:
I have often thought, in my waking hours, “Now, when I fall asleep, and see such and such things, I will remember it was but a dream.” Yet I could not, while the dream lasted; and probably none else can. But it is otherwise with the dream of life; which we do remember to be such, even while it lasts. And if we do forget it, (as we are indeed apt to do) a friend may remind us of it. It is much to be wished that such a friend were always near; one that would frequently sound in our ear, “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead!” Soon you will awake into real life. You will stand, a naked spirit, in the world of spirits, before the face of the great God! See that you now hold fast that “eternal life, which he hath given you in his Son!”
~John Wesley? – Human Life a Dream (Sermon 121):
See more.
Prayer
God, help us invite the right people to the party so that the quality of our life is godly and that we faithfully follow Jesus. Help us keep away the over-reactors and power-reactors, and show us who the truth-reactors and spiritual-reactors are that we need to invite. Guide us as we invest and invite friends to the party that SCC is throwing. And open doors for us to invite them to join us. Give us these kind of friends so that our sorrow might be turned into partying. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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